Panic grips Software professionals: Schools shut in Hyderabad as precautionary measure

Telangana/Hyderabad, March 04 (HS): With COVID-19 becoming a reality in Hyderabad, the State Government is getting its act together to upgrade medical infrastructure and deploy enough number of staff to take on the new challenge.The Health Minister reiterated that under Indian conditions the virus would not survive, however his optimism was not reciprocated by many and panic has set in.

Fear gripped the Mahindra Hills area of  the city where the techie resided and who was found to the Corona Virus positive. Many of his neighbors vacating their houses and Ravi colony, where he lived resembled to a ghost town.

A disinfectant drive by the Cantonment Board did little to repose confidence in the residents.Local schools are shut and people remain indoor fearing contracting the virus.

Panic gripped Raheja Mind space software park today when an lady techie of DSM company is suspected to have contracted the virus. HRD department of the company notified to its engineers to work from home till further orders and the software company stands sealed .HRD notification also advises those with mild fever or cough to isolate themselves from other family members. Software Engineers were asked to hit the road early without visiting the canteen or the corridors where the suspected techie roamed freely.

According to state government sources, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to allocate Rs 100 crore for upgrading the existing infrastructure and services if the infection shows signs of spinning out of control. The State government plans to cobble up isolation wards with not less than 3,000 beds if the virus breaks out as an epidemic.A special hospital with total isolation ward in on the anvil at Anantagiri near Vikarabad.

The cabinet is likely to meet today evening to take stock of the situation .It is learnt that he government is in talks with private medical colleges and hospitals to set up isolation wards. As of now  74  people are suspects and 45 are in the isolation ward of Gandhi Hospital and their test samples have been extracted and found negative when the reports last came in and they have been discharged.

However new admission up to 44 have been reported and many are software professionals who went abroad recently with symptoms of mild fever. A Foreign national who landed in Hyderabad aboard a British Airways plane was rushed to Gandhi Hospital on suspicion of contracting Corona Virus.